Baptism of the Lord, C January 12, 2025
Fr. Alexander Albert St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville
On Sunday, July 10, 1988, I was given life, reborn as a child of God. My ordinary birth was a month and half before that, but were it not for my baptism, I would not yet be truly alive. This is not the case for Jesus. From the moment of his conception, Jesus is divine, the very source of life and grace. So why was he baptized?
Because that’s just how important baptism is for us. We need baptism, so Jesus models this for us even though he does not need it. As the Christmas season finally draws to a close, should remember that Christmas was never the destination. The goal is Easter, the Christian Passover. Christmas is a beginning, and it concludes with the Baptism of the Lord to set us on the path to what comes next: living in God’s kingdom on earth until it comes in its fullness at the end of time.
What does that look like? What, exactly, does Jesus’ baptism teach us about our own baptism? Our own lives on earth? St. Luke’s description of this moment gives us three things to focus on: The Holy Spirit, being a Beloved Son of God, and being Pleasing to God.
Let’s start with divine adoption first. The Father says to Jesus in front of everyone “you are my beloved son.” Jesus was already God’s son, so this is about revealing that fact to the crowds. That is not the case for us. Until we are baptized, we are not yet a child of God. We are made in God’s image, true. We are loved by God, yes. Before Jesus, God was seen as a father to his people as a whole, but not in the powerful and direct way that baptism makes possible.
Cows give birth to other cows, dogs to dogs, human beings to human beings. To be the child of something means you have the same nature: dog nature for dogs, human nature for humans. Jesus has a divine nature, which is why he is God’s son. To truly be a child of God, we need to have some of his divine nature in us. Our adoption by God through Baptism is not just a legal fiction. Our registers record what actually happens: something changes in us when we’re baptized. We’re still human, but we’re human-plus. Kind of like a house without electricity. You can still live in it – most humans in history have. When you add wiring and power, when you can turn on lights and plug in appliances, it is still the same house, but capable of so much more. And once the house does have electricity, living there with the power turned off makes it feel like we’re missing something essential.
Baptism infuses our human nature with a share, a participation in God’s divine nature that allows us honestly say, “I am a child of God.” We do not earn this and it cannot be undone. We might ignore it and suffer punishment as a result, but we remain baptized for all eternity. So, the first thing we need to learn from this event is to take this fact seriously. You are not exactly like every other person in the world. You live with a spark of divine life in you. Your identity, your career, your relationships… all of these should be impacted by your status as God’s son or daughter. This goes above and beyond things like nationality, race, language, and culture. St. Peter says that “God shows no partiality.” Jew, Gentile, whatever and whoever you are, you are made in God’s image above all else. Baptism raises that even higher. We must root our identity in our divine adoption and treat the unbaptized with respect for God’s image and their potential to become God’s children.
The second thing to consider from this scene is the Holy Spirit. Being a child of God means you are expected live in a supernatural way. The virtues of prudence, perseverance, self-control, and justice are possible for every human being, but you and I should live them even more consistently than other people. Why? Because we have God himself living in us, giving us the strength to go above and beyond natural limits. He doesn’t bypass our human nature, but he does lift it up and increase its capacity. Then there are the supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and love. By faith, we can see truths others miss. By hope, we can endure tragedy and defeat. By love, we can care for and forgive not just friends and family, but strangers and even our enemies.
Any honest Catholic has had moments of learning what the Church expects us to do and thought: “well, that’s impossible. Not going to do that.” Practicing chastity and purity before and during marriage, not getting drunk or high, avoiding artificial contraception, prayer every day and Mass every Sunday and Holy Day, never telling lies or stealing, refusing to cooperate in the sins of other people even when it costs us jobs and opportunities… these requirements and more can really strain what we think we’re capable of. But it’s not like we weren’t warned. There are multiple times when Jesus outright tells us that he’s asking the impossible, which is why we’re given the Holy Spirit at baptism.
You’re supposed to look at the challenges and feel like giving up, like surrendering. When that happens, go ahead and surrender… to God. “I can’t do that God, so I surrender to you. I give it to you.” Pray that, pray “come, holy spirit,” and then get up and try to do the right thing. If you and I never radically depend on God to help us do what we cannot do, if our first response is always “I got this” and we cruise on through on our own abilities… we’re missing something. Eventually, our own strength will fail. If you’re already there, good. You’re ready to actually depend on the Holy Spirit. Better yet, go ahead and start depending on him now. Start by actually accepting what the Church teaches, no matter how difficult it seems, and saying “I’ll count on you, Lord, to make this possible.” If you only accept the Church’s teachings that you like, that you think you can handle, then you don’t actually believe in the gospel, you just believe in yourself. Believe in God instead. Then try it.
And yeah, you’ll probably fail sometimes. Which brings us to the final aspect of this baptism, when God says, “with you I am well pleased.” This might actually be the hardest part for us to accept. How many of you cringe a little inside when I say, “God is pleased with you.” How many of you instinctively think “no, he’s not, I’m terrible?” On the flip side, how many of you immediately think “of course he is, I’m great.” You’re both wrong… or perhaps, you’re both partly right.
Being pleasing to God is both something given to us and something we have to work for. God really is pleased with you. The mere fact that you exist delights him beyond our comprehension. He already adopted you. At the same time, the part of you that wants to be more pleasing to him is right. The part of you that thinks “I’ve gotta start doing the right thing to make God happy” is actually on to something. Only, don’t think you can earn God’s love. You already have it. It’s much more like the 4-year-old child who shows you their very crude drawing. You already love them and you are genuinely pleased at their childish attempt to show you something pretty. Because of that, the child tries harder to please you more, not because they doubt your love, but because that’s what love does, it grows and gets better.
You and I should want please God, to one day hear his voice say to us “well done my good and faithful servant.” This means we should strive to do better, to strive for excellence in our work, hobbies, and relationships, to strive to do holier and more loving things. “With you I am well pleased” is both a statement of what is true and an invitation to make it more true. Do not fret, you are already loved by a savior who does not quench the smoldering flame or break the bruised reed. Do not stop trying, your choices do matter and they can please God. You are his beloved son, his beloved daughter. Believe that. Then live accordingly.